I was going to start posting anew as soon as my scheduled allowed. My schedule does allow for it and there are a few things to post about. But, it’s still Christmas. And the things I have to write about, don’t fit for today. While my convictions don’t waver, I find that expressing my angst towards some people and things wouldn’t be appropriate today. Maybe later. Right now, I’m soaking it all in. There’s a sharp bitter cold north wind today, I’m in my little home, the Mrs. asleep on the couch, the cat is bothering me, wanting to play, and I’ve a warm cup of coffee, I’m sipping on. So, for now, just for now, I thought I’d relate some personal thoughts and experiences.

Well, for me, at least, the holiday is winding down. I’ve seen the people, the family and friends, I’ve exchanged gifts, and ate too much food. Most importantly, I was once again able to be part of a family tradition which dates back beyond my memory. I’ll try to explain it.

My mother has had a figurine nativity scene since I can remember. The particular pieces have morphed through the years. It has a representation for The Christ Child, Mary, Joseph, shepherds, angels, the wise men and sheep and barnyard animals. Each young child of the family takes one figurine, until the nativity scene is bare. Then, various passages from the Bible are read describing two events. One, the birth of Christ, the other, of the wise men following the Star. This duty has fallen to my older brother since the passing of my dad. During the reading of the Scripture, as the various characters are mentioned, the children replace the figurines to their original placements until the final figurine in placed and the reading completed as well as the nativity scene. I remember doing this as a young child, and now, I get to see my grandchildren do the same. I was running late today, but they waited for me to be present before they started. It may sound corny or strange, but it never fails to move me and give me a proper perspective to the meaning of Christmas.

As usual, the many of the visits were much too brief. It’s one of the things I hate about the holiday season. Everyone is expected to see everyone and be everywhere. I’ve completed my third Christmas celebration gathering in three days. I’ve had too much, and too little of it all. I relish the time with my siblings and family. And, yet, they’ve gone their ways, and I’ve gone mine. While I don’t do New Year’s resolutions, it seems every year, this time of year, I resolve to spend more time talking and listening to the perspectives of my loved ones. Each year, I fall short of sating the need.

Of course, one of the reasons for my wishing to do so is of a selfish reason. My family is mostly of a like mind. Our disagreements would amuse or bemuse many. We would quibble not over whether or not our government needs to quit spending, but, how to effectively implement the spending cuts. We wouldn’t quibble about the authority of the Scriptures, but rather, which interpretation would be most appropriate to use. In other words, at times, they give me a perspective different than what I would have, but their perspective is congruent with mine. In times past, I’ve used them to write opinion pieces here. I think when I can use their perspective, it makes for a richer and fuller blog.

Of course, I don’t confine myself to my, or my family’s perspective. There have been many people, from this blog, whose perspective and thoughts I’ve used. To them, I thank. In fact, in many ways, I don’t really consider it as “I’ve used“, but rather “we’ve used“. It isn’t so much as “my blog” as it is “our blog”.

In the coming days, I’ll probably write about where we’ve been, where we are, and hopefully where we’re going that will further the success of this blog. I won’t get into any specific details today, but, I’m quite pleased about the progress this blog has made over the last year. It has been an unqualified success. Everyone who has been a regular contributor in the comments, either in the past or present, should look upon this as a validation of their thoughts. While I see much room for improvement from myself, and some changes in the way I go about things should be done, again, this year has been more successful than I could have imagined. If we see the same improvement next year as we’ve seen this year….. well, I can’t really hope for that, but, we’ll see.

While writing in this blog, I’ve noticed something strange. Depending upon the subject, I find myself hoping that one or another or a few people will comment on whatever I’ve written about. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t, but, it’s interesting. I find myself, after writing, and looking upon the product with some satisfaction, posting it, and then wondering what so-and-so might think or comment about it. In my mind, at least, this is what makes this blog so very enjoyable. It isn’t that I get to write something and leave it at that. It is that some very bright and capable people get to interact. The comment part of this blog is more than the postings of this blog. This is the best Christmas present we can give! It certainly is a great present to me, and I want to thank everyone for this gift.

I hope all have had a safe and happy Christmas and will continue to do so throughout the holiday season. God bless.

PS. I ran across a post from John Ransom, which I thought was worthwhile. I was going to write about it but opted for this instead. Besides, I think it best as it is. On Being a Man. My favorite quote from his offering is this….. “See who you want to be and then be who you see.”

PSS. Another post I ran across, which I had thought to write about is from Thomas Sowell. You can never go wrong reading about what’s on his mind. It’s a collection of some recent random thoughts of his. On Christmas, Liberals Are By No Means Liberal My favorite quote from his offering is a quote from Adam Smith. “Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent.”

Thanks Lat! I didn’t know how well received my post would be. Congrats on being the ones to stay home and have a Christmas! I’ll get there one day! 🙂 Like you say, those Chinese fire drills are a pain.

Kicked it once but then our social democrat govt got Hartz IV in place. Screw socialism!
(Before you got unlimited bennies of 55% of last wage, afterwards after 1 year only rent + 350 EUR and only if you don’t have money on your own; wasn’t an option for me)

LOL, no doubt. It’s bad resource allocation all the way around. We’ve managed to raise entire generations of shallow, materialistic ingrates. I’m proud to say, I’ve never personally had that problem with my children or grandchildren. At least, not to where I’ve noticed.

You’re overgeneralizing. One kid wanted Justin Bieber cards instead of an iphone. So she prefers culture over material objects. But, is an iphone or ipad even such a symbol of materialism? Turns out, it’s largely immaterial – you could get five barrels of WTI for the price, now THAT would be materialistic! An i-something is largely software – ergo immaterial.

Have you thought of using skype for get togethers? That way you could have groups at different locations all chatting back and forth without all the travel and commute hassles. I understand the equipment is fairly inexpensive too.

Dave, thanks for the suggestion, but the issue isn’t space, it’s time, well, for most of us. Some of us are scattered to the winds, but even still, time is the biggest enemy. I use Skype on a limited basis.

BTW, suyts is just an old moniker I’ve used for years. My name is James.

Time is the issue. By computer conferencing you wouldn’t have to travel to all the places and could actually visit 2 or 3 places, groups of family and friends at the same time like a conference call. It would be a gabfest, I’m sure. The best part is they’re only a click away.